Hello all, recently acquired a '66 Pontiac Grande Parisienne and was pointed in this direction as to get information on restoring her! She's going to be a work in progress and hints and tips and more importantly... location of parts I need will be muchly appreciated haha. Hail from middle of nowhere Sask and looking forward to learning as much as I can from the people on this board!
Here is my new to me toy:
And don't worry... oil isn't from the car... it's the newly leaking wheel seal on my dodge which I still need to fix...
.....welcome to CP MarkV. Hey we are not in the middle of nowhere here in Sask, the world revolves around us !! You joined the right site for your 66. A bunch of us here have them !!
Haha thanks guys! Glad to hear there are several people here with these cars... I'm more used to being the only one around with a certain car as all I have had for old Pontiacs before this one have been American versions; '75 Grand Am 455 & '70 Bonneville Brougham 455 being among them.
As to the middle of no where, the world may revolve around us but I still have nothing around here really haha. Few hours away from any decent center, of which Saskatoon being the closest at two hours away which really makes things get pricey getting shipped or driving a ways all the time.
Welcome here, and as stated, you are in good company. A number of people who read and post here quite frequently happen to also have 66 Grande Parisiennes, me being one of those. Fire away with questions, and I'd like to start with one!
Do you have details on it? Options, powertrain, original, modified etc?
I guess that was more than one question...
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Carl- As far as I can tell she is pretty plain for options, 283 car with powerglide, buckets, console, no air, nothing really fancy in her, was going to try and pull the rear seat and see if I can find a build sheet, unsure of how else to find what options this car came with. I'm told it's not the original engine tho, but I do know where another one is. Did they use vin stamping back in 66 or am I safe to just try and find something with a similar date code? The rest of the car seems original minus someone cutting the dash and lower vent panels for a radio and speakers respectively. Unsure if I plan to try and restore to original or just drop a new powertrain in her and make her fun.
Greaser- That's my 1970 Bonneville Brougham, a/t/c, pw, pd, pt, climate control, factory 8-track, 455. She is just parked there for the moment as I ran out of room in the driveway haha.
-- Edited by MarkV on Wednesday 20th of August 2014 08:01:19 AM
Rabbit64cs- Yea, you don't see many of them around like this one, I had actually bought it to steal the 455 out of to power my '75 Grand Am but it was just too nice to part out. Interior is in amazing shape, embroidered seats and chrome trim still in really good shape. I haven't had a whole lot of luck tracking down another 455 in the meantime.
77srx- Am I going to have to drive down to Regina to meet other people actually interested in old Pontiacs? Seem to be a few of you out that way, most around here will snub their noses at anything that's not an old Dodge.
Gasonmiles- Thanks! I need to start making some friends down there I think, just got gouged in both exchange rate and brokerage fees getting some tranny parts up from the states.
-- Edited by MarkV on Wednesday 20th of August 2014 06:28:38 PM
Yes, I have found build sheets in 66 Grande Parisiennes down by the steering column, under the dash pad and also inside the seats. If it has buckets, remove the metal seat backs and look in there.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Key codes would be nice, or even new locks, or hell, swap for some locks! Nothing matches the glove box or console lock, thinking someone did a cylinder swap sometime... frustrating.
How does one get these GM VVS docs? I went to the dealership the other day and they stared at me like I had a horn on my forehead when I asked for info on a '66. Said they can't go back further than 10 years. That doesn't make sense to me at all.
Key codes would be nice, or even new locks, or hell, swap for some locks! Nothing matches the glove box or console lock, thinking someone did a cylinder swap sometime... frustrating.
How does one get these GM VVS docs? I went to the dealership the other day and they stared at me like I had a horn on my forehead when I asked for info on a '66. Said they can't go back further than 10 years. That doesn't make sense to me at all.
And for the record, the dealership personnel should have known to refer you to GM Vintage because that is who they need to contact if they have key code requests for older vehicles. I guess they must not all know about it.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Unsure if I plan to try and restore to original or just drop a new powertrain in her and make her fun.
